ARJEN ROBBEN has led a sustained attack from Holland’s players on referee Howard Webb and said: “If you play a World Cup final, you need a world-class referee.”

Webb made history by brandishing 14 yellow cards and one red in Sunday’s feisty showpiece, but it was what he failed to do that stoked Dutch anger after the extra-time defeat by Spain.

Former Chelsea winger Robben, now at Bayern Munich, believes Carles Puyol should have been sent off for trying to drag him down in the second of two one-on-ones he fluffed. And Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong added to the criticism by highlighting Webb’s decision to award a goal-kick, after Wesley Sneijder’s free-kick had clearly been deflected.

Spain’s very next attack ended with Andres Iniesta spearing the ball into the net to crown Vicente del Bosque’s side as champions.

“You always have to be careful what you say but for me it is very clear,” said Robben. “When you sit in the dressing room together after such a game and you are only talking about the referee and his very bad points...

“For me, honestly, if you play a World Cup final, you need a world-class referee. I don’t know whether this was a world-class performance from the referee. It is for the referee to control the game.”

The irony for Robben, who has regularly been accused of going to ground too easily, is that, having shrugged off Puyol’s attempts to haul him back, he stayed on his feet because he saw glory beckon – only to overrun the ball and allow a grateful Iker Casillas to collect.

“He [Webb] has to send him [Puyol] off. He has to give a free-kick. In the end there is no advantage,” he said. “Yes, it cost me that I didn’t go down. You always try to continue. It was 10 minutes before the end. If you score a goal you can win the game.

“In the end I couldn’t move any more and the goalkeeper was too close. I couldn’t score. The first one-on-one is my mistake. I have to score that one. But that is football. You try your best. I tried to score.”

Team-mate De Jong added to the chorus even though he admitted he was fortunate not to have been sent off for a karate kick that caught Xabi Alonso full in the chest and left him fearing he suffered broken ribs.

He highlighted Webb’s decision to award Spain a goal-kick rather than give Holland a corner and said: “It is always easy to blame the referee. I am not saying the biggest fault is with the referee through all the game, but there were some curious moments.

“Everyone could see the last one. We had a corner four minutes from time. Everyone could see it, in the stadium and on TV, it was a clear corner. He gives the ball to Spain and, on the next attack, they score. What can you do about that? It is part of football and he will realise what he did when he sees the replay.

“I don’t think the game was too big for him. He has a lot of experience. I know him from the Premier League. I have never had a problem with him. He had the Champions League final at the end of the season so he has a lot of experience.

“I talked to him. He is an open referee. A final is different. I am not saying Howard is a bad referee but sometimes you don’t have your luckiest games. In the final, it was not his luckiest game.”

De Jong added that the derision meted out to Holland’s aggressive tactics has been over-the-top and said FIFA’s tampering with the rules was not allowing “football to be football”.

“Of course I was concerned about my tackle,” he said. “It looked worse although, to be honest, I didn’t see the opponent coming in from the side. I was really focused on the ball and I caught him on his chest. It was a little bit curious. He gave the yellow card so for me it was a little bit of luck.

“But it is a final. Everyone is trying to survive. You have to win the game no matter what. Spain had some fouls. We had some fouls. Everyone had aggression and emotion to win because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“Maybe I am a little bit old school but when you see how football was back in the day, there were worse fouls then and no one even whistled. I like it hard sometimes. That is football. It is part of the game.

“Now FIFA come out with all those rules and the game is not exciting for the players any more. Let football stay as football.”